NAMIBIA's new US$268 million Port of Walvis Bay's container terminal is nearing completion on 40 hectares, which increases annual capacity to 750,000 TEU from 350,000 TEU
NAMIBIA's new US$268 million Port of Walvis Bay's container terminal is nearing completion on 40 hectares, which increases annual capacity to 750,000 TEU from 350,000 TEU. The terminal is build of reclaimed land made up mostly of sandy material dredged from the facility's basin, said project manager and port engineer Elzevir Gelderbloem, reported Dredging and Port Construction, a publication of Oakland's IHS Media.
A cutter suction dredger with a dredging capacity of 3,000 cubic metres was used on the berth basin and turning basin to lower its depth to 14.4 metres below chart datum, said the report.
The dredged material was then pumped into what would form the base of the new container terminal, said the report.
Built by the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), project adds 600 metres of quay wall providing three berths 16 metres alongside and 30 metres from the quay wall cope line.
Two of the berths are for container handling and serviced by four postpanamax ship-to-shore cranes.
The upgrades are the latest development in Namibia's plan to establish the country as an international standard logistics hub. It falls under the auspices of a public-private partnership, the Walvis Bay Corridor Group, which was set up in 2000 to improve cross-border trade.
It comprises an integrated system of roads and rail networks linking the port of Walvis Bay to landlocked Southern African Development Community countries.
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